Month: October 2008

Larissa Hjorth is in HUMlab today giving a talk entitledThe Big Bang: A case study of mobile media and gaming as new media in South Korea

Abstract:In media cultures of late, the synergy between two global dominant industries – mobile communication and gaming – has attracted much attention and stargazing. As part of burgeoning global media cultures, gaming and mobile media are divergent in their adaptation at the level of the local. In some locations where broadband infrastructure is strong and collectivity is emphasized (such as South Korea), online multiplayer games prevail. In locations where convergent mobile technologies govern such as Japan, mobile gaming platforms dominate.

In order to address the uneven adoption and definitions of mobile gaming, this paper will focus on the convergence between mobile technologies and gaming in the Asia-Pacific through a case study on one of the dominant locations for the production and consumption of innovative mobile technologies, Seoul, South Korea. Lauded by the OECD as the most broadbanded country in the world, South Korea’s particular technoculture demonstrates a high deployment of online space in everyday urban life. From the PC bangs (rooms), online gaming and social networking sites such as Cyworld mini-hompy, Seoul provides a fascinating study in twenty-first century technocultures. I will begin with contextualizing South Korea as one of the major global leaders in mobile technologies. I will then turn to the South Korean new media group INP who have conducted location aware game projects such as Urban vibe (2005) and, more recently, ‘mobile hacker’ project called Dotplay (2007).

Jim Barrett did a talk on space, mixed spaces and digital extensions this morning in the lab. His talk was the first one at an international workshop on Creative Space at Umeå University organized by Kerstin Smeds, Professor of Museology.

Jim prepared an exhibition in the new part of the lab. Here are some photos from this morning.